FOOD HOLDING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF OPERATING SAME
A food holding apparatus configured to hold and release an ingredient having fluidity, including: a base; robot arm coupled to the base; end effector at a tip end of the arm; and controller configured to control an operation of the arm and of the end effector. The end effector includes: a base portion; rotational joint having a rotation axis parallel to a horizontal direction in at least one of postures of the arm; rotary portion rotatably coupled to the base portion by the rotational joint; and a tip end portion attached to the rotary portion and including a concave portion. The controller makes the rotational joint of the tip end portion in a predetermined reference state normally rotate to hold part of the ingredient, stored in a predetermined container, inside the concave portion, and makes the rotational joint of the tip end portion reversely rotate to release the ingredient.
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The present invention relates to a food holding apparatus and a method of operating the food holding apparatus.
BACKGROUND ARTAt manufacturing sites for foods, such as in-flight meals and box lunches, work of dishing up foods is being performed by workers. Each worker picks up with one hand a food container conveyed by a conveyor. While maintaining a predetermined posture of the food container, the worker pours sauce on a food in the container with the other hand. After that, the worker releases the food to a predetermined position on the conveyor.
In recent years, from the viewpoint of productivity improvement, proposed in various fields is that a robot and a worker perform work in the same work space in cooperation with each other. When a human-shaped working robot is introduced to the above manufacturing site for the food and performs work of dishing up the food, a measure to uniformly supply sauce on the surface of the food is required. PTL 1 discloses a food manufacturing apparatus configured to manufacture pizzas. A tomato sauce supplying apparatus includes a peristaltic pump, and a discharge tube through which tomato sauce is discharged is branched into a plurality of branch tubes. The branch tubes including respective outlet nozzles are arranged above a flat cake, and a specific amount of tomato sauce is supplied to each of some positions uniformly distributed on the surface of the flat cake.
CITATION LIST Patent LiteraturePTL 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 9-38882
SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical ProblemHowever, according to the above conventional food manufacturing apparatus, since the discharge tube through which the tomato sauce is discharged is fixed, the discharge tube needs to include a plurality of branch tubes for uniformly supplying the tomato sauce to the surface of the flat cake. As a result, the apparatus increases in size, and and the structure thereof becomes complex. This is a common problem among apparatuses configured to supply an ingredient having fluidity to the surface of the food.
The present invention was made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to uniformly supply an ingredient, such as sauce, having fluidity to the surface of a food, such as an in-flight meal or a box lunch, by a simple configuration.
Solution to ProblemTo achieve the above object, a food holding apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention is a food holding apparatus configured to hold and release an ingredient having fluidity. The food holding apparatus includes: a base; a robot arm coupled to the base; an end effector provided at a tip end of the robot arm; and a controller configured to control an operation of the robot arm and an operation of the end effector. The end effector includes a base portion, a rotational joint having a rotation axis parallel to a horizontal direction in at least one of postures of the robot arm, a rotary portion rotatably coupled to the base portion by the rotational joint, and a tip end portion attached to the rotary portion and including a concave portion. The controller makes the rotational joint of the tip end portion in a predetermined reference state normally rotate to hold part of the ingredient, stored in a predetermined container, inside the concave portion. The controller makes the rotational joint of the tip end portion reversely rotate to release the ingredient held inside the concave portion.
According to the above configuration, by normally rotating the rotational joint, an ingredient, such as sauce, having fluidity is held inside the concave portion. Further, by reversely rotating the rotational joint, the ingredient held inside the concave portion is released. By making the ingredient fall from the concave portion, the ingredient can be uniformly supplied to the entire surface of a food (in-flight meal, for example). It should be noted that the tip end portion may have a spoon shape.
A method of operating a food holding apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is a method of operating a food holding apparatus including: a base; a robot arm coupled to the base; an end effector provided at a tip end of the robot arm; and a controller configured to control an operation of the robot arm and an operation of the end effector, the end effector including: a base portion; a rotational joint having a rotation axis parallel to a horizontal direction in at least one of postures of the robot arm; a rotary portion rotatably coupled to the base portion by the rotational joint; and a tip end portion attached to the rotary portion and including a concave portion. The method includes: making, by the controller, the rotational joint of the tip end portion in a predetermined reference state normally rotate to hold part of an ingredient, stored in a predetermined container, inside the concave portion; and making, by the controller, the rotational joint of the tip end portion reversely rotate to release the ingredient held inside the concave portion.
Advantageous Effects of InventionThe present invention is configured as above and can uniformly supply an ingredient, such as sauce, having fluidity to the surface of a food, such as an in-flight meal or a box lunch, by a simple configuration.
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description and the drawings, the same reference signs are used for the same or corresponding components, and a repetition of the same explanation is avoided. Further, for ease of understanding, components are schematically shown in the drawings.
EmbodimentAs shown in
In the present embodiment, the arm portion 15 is constituted by a first link 15a and a second link 15b. The first link 15a is coupled to a base shaft 16 by a rotational joint J1, the base shaft 16 being fixed to an upper surface of the base 12. The first link 15a is rotatable about a rotation axis L1 extending through a center axis of the base shaft 16. The second link 15b is coupled to a tip end of the first link 15a by a rotational joint J2. The second link 15b is rotatable about a rotation axis L2 defined at the tip end of the first link 15a.
The wrist portion 17 is constituted by an up/down portion 17a and a rotary portion 17b. The up/down portion 17a is coupled to a tip end of the second link 15b by a linear motion joint J3 and can move up and down relative to the second link 15b. The rotary portion 17b is coupled to a lower end of the up/down portion 17a by a rotational joint J4. The rotary portion 17b is rotatable about a rotation axis L3 defined at the lower end of the up/down portion 17a. The end effectors 18 and 19 are coupled to the respective rotary portions 17b of the left and right wrist portions 17. To be specific, the end effectors 18 and 19 are provided at respective tip ends of the left and right arms 13.
Each arm 13 configured as above includes the joints J1 to J4. Servomotors for driving (not shown), encoders (not shown) configured to detect rotation angles of the servomotors, and the like are provided at the arm 13 so as to correspond to the joints J1 to J4. Further, the rotation axes L1 of the first links 15a of the two arms 13 are located on the same straight line. The first link 15a of one of the arm 13 and the first link 15a of the other arm 13 are arranged with a height difference therebetween in the upper-lower direction.
The base portion 30 includes a linear motion shaft 3 lb having a tip end to which the holding portions 31 are attached. The base portion 30 also includes therein an actuator (not shown) configured to drive the linear motion shaft 31b along a central axis (L4). When the actuator drives the linear motion shaft 31b, the holding portions 31 can move in a predetermined direction (the left-right direction in the drawings) relative to the base portion 30. With this, the holding portions 31 can move in a direction toward the base portion 30 and a direction opposite to the direction toward the base portion 30.
Each of the holding portions 31 includes a pair of jaw portions 31a provided at a tip end thereof and also includes therein an actuator (not shown) configured to drive the jaw portions 31a. The actuator can change an interval between the pair of jaw portions 31a (in the upper-lower direction in the drawings), and with this, the pair of jaw portions 31a can hold a side portion 60a of the food 60.
The placing portion 32 has a flat plate shape curved in an L shape in a side view and is arranged on the lower side of the base portion 30 and the holding portions 31. In the present embodiment, the placing portion 32 is fixed to the base portion 30. To place the food 60, a tip end of the placing portion 32 is formed in a rectangular shape in a plan view so as to correspond to the size of the food 60.
The base portion 40 is coupled to the up/down portion 17a of the wrist portion 17 through the rotational joint J4 and also coupled to the rotary portion 41 through the rotational joint J5. The base portion 40 is bent in a substantially L shape in a side view and includes therein a driving portion for the rotational joint J5.
The rotary portion 41 is coupled to the base portion 40 through the rotational joint J5. The tip end portion 42 is attached to the rotary portion 41 through an attachment member 43. The tip end portion 42 includes a concave portion 42a and a handle portion 42b. In the present embodiment, the tip end portion 42 has a spoon shape. The handle portion 42b of the spoon is fixed to the rotary portion 41 through the attachment member 43. In
The storage unit 14b stores a basic program of the robot controller and information, such as various fixed data. The calculating unit 14a controls various operations of the robot 11 by reading and executing software, such as the basic program, stored in the storage unit 14b. To be specific, the calculating unit 14a generates a control command of the robot 11 and outputs the control command to the servo control unit 14c. Based on the control command generated by the calculating unit 14a, the servo control unit 14c controls the driving of the servomotors corresponding to the joints J1 to J4 of the arms 13 of the robot 11. Further, the controller 6 also controls the operation of holding the food 60 by the end effector 18 and the operation of supplying the sauce (71) by the end effector 19. Thus, the controller 6 controls the operations of the entire robot 11.
Next, one example of driving operations of the robot 11 controlled by the controller 14 will be described by using a flow chart in
First, the robot 11 holds the food 60 on the conveyor 20 by the end effector 18 (see Step S1 in
Next, the robot 11 conveys the food 60 to a predetermined position with the food 60 held by the end effector 18 (see Step S2 in
Next, the robot 11 performs predetermined work with respect to the food 60 by the end effector 19 (see Step S3 in
Next, the robot 11 releases the food 60 to a predetermined position on the conveyor 20 by the end effector 18 (see Step S4 in
In the present embodiment, the placing portion 32 is fixed to the base portion 30, and in the holding operation (Step S1 in
In the releasing operation (Step S4) of the food 60 in the present embodiment, the food 60 is returned onto the conveyor 20 (see
The above embodiment is configured such that the holding portions 31 of the end effector 18 hold the side portion 60a of the food 60 by changing the intervals each between the pair of jaw portions 31a (in the upper-lower direction in the drawings; see
In the above embodiment, the food 60 is an in-flight meal. However, the food 60 may be other food, such as a box lunch, as long as the food is stored in a predetermined container. In the above embodiment, the ingredient 71 is sauce. However, the ingredient 71 may be liquid seasoning, such as dressing, or powdery seasoning, such as sesame seeds, as long as the ingredient is an ingredient stored in a predetermined container and having fluidity. Further, the ingredient may be soup, curry roux, or the like.
In the above embodiment, the double-arm type robot 11 is configured to perform work of conveying foods. However, the above embodiment may be realized by a dedicated apparatus including the end effectors 18 and 19 and capable of performing positioning control.
The robot 11 in the above embodiment is a horizontal articulated double-arm robot but may be a vertical articulated robot.
From the foregoing explanation, many modifications and other embodiments of the present invention are obvious to one skilled in the art. Therefore, the foregoing explanation should be interpreted only as an example and is provided for the purpose of teaching the best mode for carrying out the present invention to one skilled in the art. The structures and/or functional details may be substantially modified within the scope of the present invention.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITYThe present invention is useful at manufacturing sites for foods, such as in-flight meals and box lunches.
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST11 robot
13 robot arm
14 controller
18 end effector
19 end effector
19a base portion
19b tip end portion
20 conveyor
20a regulating member (conveyor)
31 base portion
32 holding portion
32 placing portion
40 base portion
41 rotary portion
42 tip end portion
42a concave portion
42b handle portion
60 food (in-flight meal)
60a side portion of food
70 container
71 ingredient (sauce)
Claims
1. A food holding apparatus configured to hold and release an ingredient having fluidity,
- the food holding apparatus comprising:
- a base;
- a robot arm coupled to the base;
- an end effector provided at a tip end of the robot arm; and
- a controller configured to control an operation of the robot arm and an operation of the end effector, wherein:
- the end effector includes a base portion, a rotational joint having a rotation axis parallel to a horizontal direction in at least one of postures of the robot arm, a rotary portion rotatably coupled to the base portion by the rotational joint, and a tip end portion attached to the rotary portion and including a concave portion;
- the controller makes the rotational joint of the tip end portion in a predetermined reference state normally rotate to hold part of the ingredient, stored in a predetermined container, inside the concave portion; and
- the controller makes the rotational joint of the tip end portion reversely rotate to release the ingredient held inside the concave portion.
2. The food holding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tip end portion has a spoon shape.
3. A method of operating a food holding apparatus,
- the food holding apparatus comprising:
- a base;
- a robot arm coupled to the base;
- an end effector provided at a tip end of the robot arm; and
- a controller configured to control an operation of the robot arm and an operation of the end effector,
- the end effector comprising:
- a base portion;
- a rotational joint having a rotation axis parallel to a horizontal direction in at least one of postures of the robot arm;
- a rotary portion rotatably coupled to the base portion by the rotational joint; and
- a tip end portion attached to the rotary portion and including a concave portion,
- the method comprising:
- making, by the controller, the rotational joint of the tip end portion in a predetermined reference state normally rotate to hold part of an ingredient, stored in a predetermined container, inside the concave portion; and
- making, by the controller, the rotational joint of the tip end portion reversely rotate to release the ingredient held inside the concave portion.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 2, 2018
Publication Date: Jan 30, 2020
Applicant: KAWASAKI JUKOGYO KABUSHIKI KAISHA (Kobe-shi, Hyogo)
Inventors: Kenji BANDO (Nishinomiya-shi), Kazunori HIRATA (Yao-shi)
Application Number: 16/500,473